


Mulan's Mahjong Club

by narlyenatvanya



Category: Mulan (1998)
Genre: Canon Continuation, F/F, F/M, Gen, Training Camp, female warriors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 14:09:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16662401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narlyenatvanya/pseuds/narlyenatvanya
Summary: Mulan's going to make a warrior out of you!





	Mulan's Mahjong Club

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silveradept](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/gifts).



With permission from the emperor’s minister that answered Mulan’s letter, Fa Mulan set out to gather women to train as she had. This was better done face-to-face rather than calling out a proclamation from the streets. She stopped at the first house in her prefecture. A man called Zuan Yun greeted Mulan, a slight bow in response to hers. 

“You are the savior of China, it is told,” Yun stated.

“I am a humble servant of the emperor. On that errand, I have come to ask your daughter to join my training camp,” Mulan replied.

“Training camp? What for?”

“To protect China!”

To Mulan’s dismay, Yun began laughing at her. 

“That is what our boys are doing! Begone, ere I summon the magistrate!” Yun exclaimed.

Mulan turned on her heel in anger and visited the next few homes, receiving a variation of the same response from every single home. Here and there, she saw a glimpse of daughters in the households, and she saw the intrigued looks on their faces. 

_This isn’t working_ , she thought. Despite Mulan traveling through the entire prefecture within three days, she was met only with rejection. On the fourth day, she found herself sitting on a bench, pondering her options, when a young woman approached her. It was one of the women she saw peeking from around doorways while talking with the head of the house a few days ago. Not sure what this was about, Mulan stood up and greeted her kindly.

“You are Fa Mulan, aren’t you? I heard you speaking to my father the day before yesterday. My name is Zuan Feiyan and I want to train with you!”

Mulan nodded and listened and pondered again, how to gather and train the women without their fathers’ permissions, if there was interest in the women she’d seen? 

And then inspiration struck. She smiled broadly and said:. “I know you’ll have trouble convincing your family to allow you to join a training camp for the army, but perhaps you can convince them to allow you to join a women’s club. Meet me in the field outside of the village tomorrow morning, and spread the word to any others who would like to join.”

After giving a few more instructions to the young woman, Mulan left to ready herself as well. Unsure how many would actually show up, she gathered supplies enough for twenty, just in case. Mulan walked past home after home before arriving at her own. She stopped in the family temple to pray for luck and readied herself for the next day.

Mulan sat on a stump in the field the next morning, waiting for someone, anyone, to arrive. Eventually, Feiyan arrived, with an excited expression and a pep in her step. She greeted Mulan and explained that she'd found a few other young women amongst her friends who were interested in this endeavor. The two waited while four more ladies arrived, then another six… By the time everyone had joined Mulan, there were thirty women ready to train with her in secret! 

The ladies chatted quietly amongst themselves, and Mulan overheard Feiyan’s comment to another trainee, “I didn’t think a warrior could be so pretty, goodness!”

Mulan stood between them and smiled. _Time for the first lesson._ “Ladies, the first and most important lesson is to be gentle, at the same time we’re being tough.” 

“How can you be tough _and_ gentle, Fa Mulan?” one of the ladies, Chen Ji, asked.

“I know it does sound contradictory, but to be a good warrior, you must bring it all into balance. Earth, sky, day, night. You need both for balance. Now, we begin with a few exercises…” And Mulan began her training montage, starting with Tai Chi (a form of qigong) before moving on to train the ladies with staffs. 

The first day of training was short but arduous, and the air was charged with excitement and energy even then. Mulan bid the ladies farewell until the next morning and went home, feeling much more confident in her task than the day before.

To continue her message of balance, Mulan’s trainings always started with Tai Chi in the mornings and continued on to more vigorous drills after. After a few days had passed, she felt confident that her trainees could handle longer sessions and set training for twice a day as long as the women could make the excuses to get away. Ji suggested calling their meetings “Mahjong Club” and “Weaving Club” so as to not arouse suspicion from family members. The others agreed to this and went home, whispering amongst themselves with excitement.

As the days wore on, Mulan found the trainees were getting stronger and more balanced – overall more confident in their efforts! Feiyan was especially active and determined, despite a little clumsiness, a little cheating here and there. Mulan recognized the same drive and qualities within Feiyan as she herself had at the beginning of her training with Shang, so she took extra time with Feiyan to correct her posture and teach her how to hit her target without cheating. Feiyan blushed whenever Mulan came near and was a little extra clumsy for her embarrassment.

Another of the ladies, Dou Lihua, piped up at the end of another day, “When will we be ready to go off to war?” (Because there was always some skirmish, internal wars, or intrigue going on in the Northern Wei Empire.)

Mulan looked among her trainees, evaluating their abilities, strengths and weaknesses, and nodded to them. “You ladies still have a way to go before you see combat, but I am so proud of your accomplishments and performance. Look how far you’ve all come in just a few weeks’ time! I know you can do this, so keep working hard, keep getting stronger, and add a few training activities at home if you get a chance without getting caught. Now go home and get some sleep so we can meet fresh in the morning!”

She sent the ladies off home to bathe and rest. In the morning, Feiyan arrived early, excited and nervous. She presented a small gift of steamed red bean buns to Mulan before the others arrived and hurried off to hide her embarrassment. Mulan was surprised and, trying not to make a big deal about receiving a gift of _food_ (this was not the easiest gift to give in these days), started vigorous training activities for the day.

Khan occasionally joined Mulan in the field and a week of extra training in balance went by after Feiyan presented her gift. Feiyan watched Mulan demonstrate a new technique and did her best to recreate the technique. While taking a break, Feiyan watched Mulan work with some of the other ladies and ended up walking right into Khan! She squeaked her surprise and patted the horse, but the noise and neighing caused Mulan to look over from her explanation. Feiyan blushed brighter and hurried off. Mulan noticed Ji watching Feiyan as she hurried away. She had noticed that more than once from Ji and smiled at the potential there.

Soon after, Shang visited Mulan to find out how the training was going. He observed the morning session and stopped to chat with Mulan afterward. 

Feiyan, to Mulan's eyes, seemed to be plucking up her courage about something and walked over to talk to them. “Mulan, may I speak with you about something personal?”

Mulan, guessing what this was about, held up her hand and replied, “Before we continue on, I would like to introduce you to my fiancé, General Li Shang. He’s come to observe and give us pointers before sending a report back to the emperor!”

Feiyan looked distraught but bowed in respect to Shang. “I… should get back home. See you in the evening.” And she hurried off, Mulan saw a look of broken heartedness cross the girl's face. But… she thought to herself that there was hope for Feiyan, as Ji quickly made her way after her.

Mulan shared a look and a smile with Shang and discussed her progress with the recruits. She explained, proudly, “I think they’re ready, Shang. As soon as you need them, they can be working in the field!”

And so, Fa Mulan created a secret troupe of female warriors to help women find their places and voices in their strict society. Their first battle, however, is another story and a fine one indeed.


End file.
